Portuguese employers plan to increase their budgets to support a 4% wage increase in 2023, as they try to attract and retain staff in the context of rising inflation and a challenging job market, according to the latest WTW salary budget planning report, a consulting, brokerage and solutions firm.

The report, which involved 403 organizations in Portugal, concluded that the expected salary increase for 2023 is greater than the average increase of 3.2% in salary budgets allocated for 2022. Half of the companies (51%) report that their salary budget is now higher than they had hoped. to be it.

Employers are increasing salary budgets for three main reasons, 86% say they are concerned about inflation, 44% say they are responding to a more demanding job market, and 30% say they want to improve retention of existing employees.

Of the Portuguese companies that participated in the WTW study, a quarter (27%) believe their business prospects are better than they expected, while 46% say they are in line with their expectations.

Moreover, 17% plan to increase the number of permanent employees in the next 12 months. Half (52%) of employers still plan to hire new professionals for sales roles within the next 12 months, while 44% are hiring for IT roles and 39% intend to hire more engineering professionals.